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Shocker: NSA surveills high profile people in business and politics

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The spy agency taped 70.3 million phone calls in France over a 30-day period between December 10 and January 8 this year, Le Monde reported in its online version, citing documents from Snowden.

According to the paper, the NSA automatically picked up communications from certain phone numbers in France and recorded text messages under a programme code-named "US-985D."

Le Monde said the documents gave grounds to believe that the NSA targeted not only people suspected of being involved in terrorism but also high-profile individuals from the world of business or politics.

But I don't understand. What possible incentive could they have for doing that?

The European Parliament voted to strengthen Europe's data protection laws on Monday, including plans to impose fines of up to 100 million euros on companies such as Yahoo!, Facebook or Google if they break the rules. [..]

Parliament, in line with the Commission's proposals, also wants to impose strict rules on how data is shared or transferred to non-EU countries. For example, if the United States wants access to information held by Google or Yahoo! about a European citizen based in Europe, the firm would have to seek authorisation from a European data authority first.

That would establish an extra, EU-controlled gateway that might go some way to assuaging the profound concerns raised in Europe about U.S. data spying activities revealed via the leaks from former U.S. data analyst Edward Snowden.

The European Parliament voted to strengthen Europe's data protection laws on Monday, including plans to impose fines of up to 100 million euros on companies such as Yahoo!, Facebook or Google if they break the rules. [..]

Parliament, in line with the Commission's proposals, also wants to impose strict rules on how data is shared or transferred to non-EU countries. For example, if the United States wants access to information held by Google or Yahoo! about a European citizen based in Europe, the firm would have to seek authorisation from a European data authority first.

That would establish an extra, EU-controlled gateway that might go some way to assuaging the profound concerns raised in Europe about U.S. data spying activities revealed via the leaks from former U.S. data analyst Edward Snowden.

In other words, the US government has been doing to its allies and own citizens what it prosecutes other people for doing under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA). The hypocrisy is epic and disgusting. The NSA has disgraced and embarrassed the American people at home and abroad.

The rampant criminality and antisocial behavior of America’s intelligence community has not only diminished American rule of law at home, but is leading to increasing friction internationally with our allies. It is well past time for us to reexamine the power of the NSA and friends.

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